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While she wasn’t sure if Dayton had hurt her—let alone been the one responsible for her death—she’d be damned if she didn’t find out.
She jumped as a shrill ding came from her phone and she strained to reach it on the nightstand. Her stomach twisted upon seeing whose name was spelled out across the notification banner.
D:I don’t love where we left things. Would you be willing to meet at Bigleaf? Nice and public.
Kenna resented how he had tacked on the bit at the end, as if she genuinely feared he’d hack her to pieces.
Chewing the inside of her cheek, she reread the message several times. She knew she had hit a wall with the dirt she had collected on him and reasoned it may have been unlikely that she’d uncover anything further unless she assured him she was on his side.
Play the part of the lover.
She responded to his text and rolled out of bed, rushing around her room and pulling clothes on as her fingers attempted to tame her bed head into a semi-smooth plait.
Liza was stationed at the kitchen island when she emerged. She peeled and stuck flags, on which she wrote careful annotations, in her textbook. Her usual black cold brew set off to the side, sweating all over the counter.
“You look nice for someone who just woke up. Big date this early?”
Kenna swiped her purse off the vacant stool and didn’t bother forcing a smile. “Something like that.”
She hated lying to Liza. Perhaps it wasn’t technically lying, but she felt it was dishonest to withhold Dayton’s true identity. Kenna had assured her the rumors weren’t true and she had unwittingly met the man at the center of them.
Chin resting in her palm, Liza narrowed her eyes mischievously. “I can’t believe you hid an entire boyfriend from me. He’s pretty handsome, too. Maybe not in the cliché way where women fall to their knees when he walks by, but he’s mysterious and broody and that’s kind of hot. Can I be honest, though? He’s a bit old.”
She had a point. It wasn’t something Kenna had ever considered—their ages. They matched wits well enough despite their differing levels of education and while they were far from equals, they could carry on a conversation without losing interest or becoming confused by one another.
What else mattered?
“Can’t fault you there. I’ll be back later,” she said, one foot already out the door, wincing as Liza called after her.
“Love Island?”
“Must we?”
“The gods demand it, Ace.”
His stomach had been tense since his morning run.
The scene at Kenna’s apartment had unraveled faster than he could comprehend. Dayton swiftly lost his composure over her accusations. He had kept his cool at the bar that fateful night, but it was more demanding to keep a level head when the person spewing venom was the one you held the most dear. He had already lost her once.
He refused to let her slip through his fingers again.
Almost every table in Bigleaf was taken when he arrived. To make matters worse, they were jammed close together. He ordered their coffees and planted the placard on the table in the middle of the shop as if he were claiming a territory. Some of the patrons dragged their eyes from their laptops to give him dirty looks but he took a seat and ignored them, watching the door.
The barista delivered their order and he hardly produced a rushed ‘thank you’ as Kenna came through the front door and joined him at the table. She was barefaced and sloppily dressed, the latter of which was uncharacteristic, but even so her presence across from him had his heart stuttering.
“We both said some regretful things the other night.”
Her gaze swept the room before settling on him, and though it was filled with ire it disbanded the lingering tension in his abdomen. “You didn’t come in here and immediately think that us being seen together might be a bad idea?”
“We have no control over how people perceive us, only in the way we carry ourselves.”
She leaned into the table, bringing their faces marginally closer, her voice a dangerous whisper. “And how do you suppose I carry myself when other people think of me as a slut? Someone who’s, quote, fucking her way through college.”
“You and I both know the truth.”
“I don’t know if I can freely associate you with the truth.” Kenna took a ginger sip of her latte. “There had better be a good reason you dragged me out of bed this early on the weekend. Other than humiliating me in a café full of people, of course.”
“I want to discuss Lacey.”
